Daily Digest: Five items worth a read
Good morning, and happy Friday. Can you feel the excitement? The suspense? Me too. It is National Doughnut Day, after all.
And coincidentally, it's also the first day of the both the Republican and DFL state conventions. While we wait for the festivities to get underway, let's check the Digest.
1. Abuse survivors reach agreement with archdiocese. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and 450 survivors of clergy abuse reached agreement on a $210 million deal to compensate those victims and lead the archdiocese out of bankruptcy. It's the largest bankruptcy settlement of its kind in the country between Catholic church leaders and abuse victims. It's roughly $50 million more than the $156 million archdiocese leaders offered last year. "I don't want anyone to leave the room and think that the Catholic church sexual scandal is now over. It's not. There's lots of work to be done around the world. We just proved that it can be done different than the church thought it could," Jim Keenan, an abuse survivor who headed the creditors committee during the bankruptcy, told reporters. Keenan said he'd been fighting the archdiocese in court for 13 years and that the settlement was a triumph. "They never planned that an irritated, pissed-off Irishman and some other guys would say, 'You know what? We don't like their plan. We're gonna write another one.' It changed the playing field. They have to listen to victims now," he said. "I do believe we have made the world safer." (MPR News)
2. Dayton signs pension fix. Hundreds of thousands of public employees and retirees stand to benefit from a major pension reform package that Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law on Thursday. Schoolteachers, office workers, police officers and a retired parks maintenance worker were among the triumphant crowd that filled the State Capitol rotunda, in a ceremony for a bill-signing that Dayton said would be the last piece of legislation he would sign as governor. “I can’t tell you how many retirees and active employees have spoken with me in the last few days and told me how vitally important this is for their peace of mind, for their financial security, for their sense of being able to rely on pensions, on the promise that they’ve earned,” Dayton said. The pension changes that passed will immediately eliminate $3.4 billion in unfunded liabilities and put Minnesota on a more stable path for the future, legislators said. The state will be contributing $141 million to pension plans over the next few years, while retirees agreed to some benefit reductions and current workers must increase their contributions to the pension funds. (Star Tribune)
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3. Pawlenty taps Fischbach for running mate. Republican Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach is running for a job she already has — just with a different governor. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Thursday morning that Fischbach has joined his campaign for governor as his running mate. The news comes just one week after she resigned from her central Minnesota Senate district and took the oath of office to serve as lieutenant governor alongside DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. “I’ve had a big adventure the last few months,” Fischbach said Thursday. “Something I didn’t expect, something I didn’t anticipate, but now I’m very excited to be running for lieutenant governor.” As a former governor and current lieutenant governor, Pawlenty said they would both bring “experience” to the executive branch. (MPR News)
4. U of M students organize response to delay of controversial fellowship. Last week, University of Minnesota student government leaders launched a petition demanding a reproductive rights advocacy fellowship be reinstated after it was delayed by University officials earlier this month in part because its medical training involves abortions. Among a variety of concerns, the petition claims the University gave in to pressure from members of the Legislature who threatened to deny funding for the university if the fellowship was not removed. As of May 30, around 2,500 people have signed the petition. Trish Palermo, outgoing undergraduate student body president and co-author of the petition, shared the petition in a campus-wide email on May 23. The petition is addressed to University President Eric Kaler and Medical School Dean Jakub Tolar. Palermo said she and other student government leaders, including three others from the Minnesota Student Association and Professional Student Government, came together after students approached them with concerns about the issue. “Our hope is that our voices are heard loud and clear to administration … due to the thousands of students that indicated concern on the petition,” Palermo said. (Minnesota Daily)
5. Tracking the battle for control of the House. Our friends at NPR have put together some nifty maps to help set the table for the campaign for control of the U.S. House this year. There could be as many as 100 seats in play, and Democrats need to gain a net of 23 seats to flip the House. Here's a good place to look at where the key seats are and read about some factors that could help determine which party prevails in November. (NPR)
And of course we'll be reporting all weekend from the Republican and DFL state conventions. We start on the radio today at 11 with a preview. Watch for updates at mprnews.org when the balloting gets underway.